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Roundtables

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Launched in 1997, the Roundtables highlight The Bancroft Library's vast resources for studying and exploring the history and cultures of our planet. We invite established and budding scholars to offer insights into their work, be it published or as an opportunity to conceptualize and present their dissertation level research. These informal noontime talks, which bring together the campus community and the wider public, are intended to represent the fruits of research conducted at Bancroft.

List of Speakers

SPRING 2019

February 21stMigrants in the Making: Invisible Agricultural Child Labor and the Limits of Citizenship, 1938-1965
Presented by Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez, PhD candidate in History at Columbia University and Visiting Dissertation Research Scholar at the UC Berkeley Latinx Research Center

Farm work is considered the most hazardous industry for young workers and yet estimates show that the U.S. currently employs between 200,000-500,000 agricultural child laborers a year. A vast majority of these youth live in extreme poverty, are of Mexican and Central American descent, and belong to families of mixed immigration statuses. Although the U.S. implemented a national child labor ban in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Latinx children continue to toil in fields nationwide. Ivón Padilla-Rodríguez identifies the reason for this disjuncture by examining the consequences of the child labor ban's agricultural exemption in its first two and a half decades of existence. The legal exemption made it possible for growers and their allies to circumvent child labor protections and compulsory school attendance laws to continue to employ children in the fields. As a result, migrant Mexican and Mexican-American children from the Southwest who worked on local farms and followed western migratory streams lost rights crucial to childhood and the exercise of citizenship: education, health, and social welfare/public assistance.

March 21stSacred Time on the Frontier: Sabbath-keeping amongst Protestants and Jews in California, 1848-1920
Presented by Michel Sunhae Lee, PhD candidate in Religious Studies at University of Texas

How did the white Protestant tradition of Sunday-keeping take root in a religiously and racially diverse frontier society—if at all? This presentation explores the contestations between majority first day-keepers and minority voices during the Gold Rush and early decades of statehood, giving special attention to Jews, Seventh-day Adventists, and the religiously unaffiliated. It draws from sources in the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, diaries, and institutional records held at the Bancroft Library to offer a glimpse into how sacred time has been negotiated in a moment in American history.

April 18thCherokees and Choctaws Among the Miwok and Yokuts: Legacies of Cultural Blending and Intertribal Relations in Nineteenth Century California
Presented by Andrew Shaler, PhD candidate in History, UC Riverside

The California Gold Rush is often remembered for the thousands of immigrants who traversed continents and oceans for a chance to gain quick wealth. Often lost in these narratives are the rich histories of the numerous Native American and indigenous emigrants that made the same journey to California's Gold Country beginning in 1849. In many ways these indigenous emigrants—including Cherokees, Choctaws, and Wyandots, to name a few—straddled the spheres of the "settler" and "indigenous" societies, often maintaining close relations with both. After their arrival in the gold fields, some of these groups formed kinship ties within California's tribal communities. This presentation considers the legacies of these intertribal societies, with particular emphasis on the cases of a Cherokee emigrant party adopted into a Southern Sierra Miwok tribe, and a Choctaw man that lived among the Yokuts of the Sierra foothills and San Joaquin Valley. As members of eastern tribes that white settlers considered to be more "civilized" than most other Native peoples, these Cherokee and Choctaw emigrants could effectively act as intermediaries between the tribal and settler communities of Gold Rush California. Perhaps most importantly, the adoption of these indigenous emigrants represents an important strategy for Miwok and Yokuts tribes to contend with an increasingly violent white settler population. These rich and complex indigenous histories serve to complicate most standard narratives of both Indian-white relations and intertribal relations in nineteenth century California.

May 16th"Loans for the Little Fellow": Credit, Crisis, and Recovery in the Great Depression
Presented by Sarah Quincy, PhD candidate in Economics at UC Davis

Both lauded as "the great bank of the West" and reviled as a "huge financial octopus," the Bank of America introduced several modern banking practices during the Great Depression, the worst financial crisis in the history of the United States. These services played an integral role in California's development. Sarah Quincy will discuss her research on the impacts of this unusual bank on the state's economy during the 1920s and 1930s. Quantitative and qualitative evidence gathered from archives, including the Bancroft Library, indicates that the Bank of America's unusual emphasis on lending to underserved populations helped the communities in which it operated thrive during the 1930s.

FALL 2018

September 20thA Wise Counselor and Faithful Servant: The Life of Regent Andrew Smith Hallidie
Presented by Taryn Edwards, Librarian, Historian, and Strategic Partnerships Manager, Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco

October 18thEducation as the Project of Freedom: A Study of the Berkeley Experimental Schools Project, 1968-76
Presented by Joanne Tien, doctoral candidate, Education, UC Berkeley

November 15thPictures of a Gone City: Tech and the Dark Side of Prosperity in the San Francisco Bay Area
Presented by Richard A. Walker, Professor Emeritus, Geography, UC Berkeley, and Director, Living New Deal Project

SPRING 2018

March 15thCalifornia's Place in Anti-Slavery Litigation on the Eve of the Civil War
Presented by Alexandra Havrylyshyn, J.D. and Ph.D. candidate, Jurisprudence and Social Policy, and Bancroft Library Study Award recipient, UC Berkeley

May 17thThe Business of Silver and Gold: Comstock Mines, California Finance, and the Production of Money in the Gilded Age West, 1860-1879
Presented by Rick Elliott, doctoral candidate, History, and Arthur J. Quinn Memorial Fellowship recipient, The Bancroft Library, University of Illinois at Chicago

FALL 2017

September 21stIs the Civil Rights Struggle of the 1960s Still Relevant Today?
Presented by Carol Ruth Silver, Speaker, Author, Consultant, and Retired Attorney

October 19thCity of White Gold, San Francisco in the Gilded Age: Bringing Archival Images to Life through Film
Presented by Geordie Lynch, filmmaker

November 16thNative Claims Across Nations: Indigenous Land Ownership in Mexican and U.S. California, 1840-1860
Presented by Julia Lewandoski, doctoral candidate, History, UC Berkeley

SPRING 2017

February 16thViews of the Women's Liberation and Feminist Movements of the 1970s and 1980s: Selections from the Cathy Cade Photograph Archive
Presented by Cathy Cade, documentary photographer

March 16thThe Sail Before the Trail or Have We Missed The Boat?
Presented by Fred E. Woods, Professor of Latter-day Saint Church History and Mormon Doctrine, Brigham Young University

May 19thDangerous Ground: Squatters, Statesmen, and the Rupture of American Democracy, 1830-1860
Presented by John Suval, Gunther Barth Fellow at The Bancroft Library and doctoral candidate in History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

FALL 2015

September 17thWhiskerology: The Meaning of Hair in Nineteenth-Century America
Presented by Sarah Gold McBride, doctoral candidate in History, UC Berkeley

October 15thBefore the PPIE: The Mechanics' Institute and the Development of San Francisco's 'Fair Culture,' 1857-1909
Presented by Taryn Edwards, Librarian/Historian, Mechanics' Institute Library and Chess Room, San Francisco

November 19thLiterary Industries: Hubert Howe Bancroft's History Company and the Privatization of the Historical Profession on the Pacific Coast
Presented by Travis E. Ross, doctoral candidate in History, University of Utah

SPRING 2015

February 19thThe Campanile at 100: Researching What We Thought We Knew
Presented by Steven Finacom, career Berkeley campus staffer

March 19th"Counter-Institutions are the Answer, Man!" Multi-Ethnic Publishing in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s
Presented by Simon Abramowitsch, Bancroft Library Study Award recipient and doctoral candidate in English, UC Davis

April 16thHighlights and Shadows: Books on Photography from the Reva and David Logan Collection
Presented by Christine Hult-Lewis, PhD, the Reva and David Logan Curatorial Assistant at The Bancroft Library

May 21st"The World’s Best Working Climate": Modeling Industrial Suburbs on the Edge of San Francisco Bay
Presented by Peter Ekman, Bancroft Library Study Award recipient and doctoral candidate in Geography, UC Berkeley

April17thGold on the Trees, Gold in the Ground: Cyanide and the Making of Southern California (1886-1915)
Presented by Adam Romero, Bancroft Library Study Award recipient and doctoral candidate in Geography, UC Berkeley

May 15thThe Place of Print: Publication and the Regional Imagination in the Mining West, 1849-1869
Presented by Garrett Morrison, Reese Fellow at The Bancroft Library and doctoral candidate in English, Northwestern University

FALL 2013

September 19thBolton, His Maps, and The Bancroft Library
Presented by Albert L. Hurtado, Travis Chair in Modern American History, University of Oklahoma

SPRING 2013

February 21stSouthern and Californio Convergence in Southern California: General Andres Pico and the Chivalry Democrats,1846-1861
Presented by Daniel Lynch, Ph.D. candidate in the UCLA Department of History and Bancroft Library Gunther Barth Fellowship recipient

March 21stThe Lives and Loyalties of UC Berkeley's Pensionados
Presented by Adrianne Francisco, Ph.D. candidate in the UC Berkeley Department of History and Bancroft Study Award recipient

April 18thThe Mother Tongue in the Uttermost West: Yiddish-Language Print Materials in the Magnes Collection
Presented by Eli Rosenblatt, PhD. candidate in the UC Berkeley Jewish Studies Program and Curatorial Intern at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life

FALL 2012

September 20thBeyond Words: Diary Secrets Out From Under Lock and Key
Presented by Susan Snyder, Head of Public Service, The Bancroft Library

October 18thWhat's in the News: A Look at the Fang Family San Francisco Examiner Photographic Negative Collection
Presented by Lori Hines, Pictorial Archivist, The Bancroft Library

SPRING 2012

February 16thRain of Gold: A Century of Circular Labor Migration from Mexico
Presented by Israel Pastrana, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History, UC San Diego, and Bancroft Study Award Recipient

March 15The Worlds of Oratorian Devotion in 17th & 18th Century Mexico City
Presented by Benjamin Reed, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Reese Fellowship Recipient

April 19thManuel Lozada's Indigenous Rebellion : A 19th Century Tale of Capital, Race, and the Struggle Over Territory in Mexico
Presented by Diana Negrin da Silva, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Geography, UC Berkeley, and Bancroft Study Award Recipient

May 17thThe Political Economy of Gold, Money and Loyalty: Californians and Greenbacks in the Civil War Era
Presented by Michael T. Caires, Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History, University of Virginia, and Gunther Barth Fellowship Recipient

FALL 2011

September 15Illuminating the Jewel City: Spectacular Lighting at the Panama Pacific International Exposition
Presented by Laura Ackley, Architectural Historian

October 20thIt's Still Fun: An Inside Look at Small Press Publishing
Presented by Malcolm Margolin, Publisher, Heyday Books

November 17thThe Fight for the Public Interest: California's 2nd Convention Reconsidered
Presented by Jeff Lustig, Scholar

SPRING 2011

February 17thHouseholders
Presented by Tara McDowell, Ph.D. candidate in the History of Art Department, UC Berkeley, and Bancroft Study Award Recipient

March 17thColonial Lessons: English Instruction in the Philippines and the Benevolence of U.S. Overseas Expansion, 1898-1916
Presented by Funie Hsu, Ph.D. candidate in the Graduate School of Education,UC Berkeley, and Bancroft Study Award Recipient

May 20thPopular Science at Berkeley and the Long History of American Studies
Presented by Alex Olson, Gunther Barth Fellowship recipient, Ph.D. candidate in the Program in American Culture at the University of Michigan

FALL 2009

September 17thTowers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California
Presented by Frances Dinkelspiel, Author

FALL 2006

September 21stTelling Tales of the Becoming Self: Nawalism and the Obscured Power of Women from Colonial to Contemporary Recordings in MesoAmerica
Presented by Janferie Stone, Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at UC Davis

April 20thFree Speech/Free Sex: A Look at Sex Education and Reproductive Health at Student Health Services
Presented by Heather Munro Prescott, Professor of History, Central Connecticut State University

FALL 2004

October 21William Saroyan, Heroin and Ethics: "The Sad Tale of an Archive Broken"
Presented by Peter Howard, Antiquarian Bookseller

November 18thGuardians of the Golden Gate: John Birge Sawyer, Angel Island, and the Great Immigrant Smuggling Scandal
Presented by Robert E. Barde, Deputy Director, Institute of Business and Economic Research, Haas Business School

SPRING 2004

February 19thCity Lights Books: The History of a Community
Presented by Jim Gatewood, Ph.D. Candidate, Brown University

FALL 2001

October 18thContemporary Typographical Implication of the Native American Manuscript Tradition
Presented by Robert Bringhurst, Author

November 15thReflections on the Legacies of Governor Pat Brown
Presented by Ethan Rarick, Author

December 20thReadings from The Bancroft
Presented by Bancroft Staff

SPRING 2001

February 15thDislocations and Relocations: The Built Environments of Japanese American internment
Presented by Lynne Horiuchi, Bancroft Library Fellow

March 15thPolitics of Translation: Missionaries and Indigenous People in New South Wales and Oregon Territory, 1825-1845
Presented by Anne Keary, Bancroft Library Fellow

April 19thEvery Colored Man is the Victim of Bitter Prejudice and Unjust Laws: Race and the Right to Be Heard in California's Courts, 1850-1873
Presented by C. Michael Bottoms, Bancroft Library Fellow

May 17thResearching the Pentagon Papers
Presented by Daniel Ellsberg, Author

FALL 2000

September 21stThe Shakespeare First Folio (1623) and the Spanish Connection
Presented by Alan H. Nelson, Professor of English

October 19thDifferent Voices, Different Lives: the Gay Bears Oral History Project
Presented by William E. Benemann, Librarian, Boalt School of Law

November 16thA Lifetime in the World of Books
Presented by Bernard M. Rosenthal, Bookseller

December 21stReading from The Bancroft Library
Presented by Bancroft Staff

SPRING 2000

February 17thChristian Seed in Western Soil: The Graduate Theological Union and the University of California
Presented by Lucinda Glenn Rand, Archivist, Graduate Theological Union Library

March 16thIndian Resistance to Colonialism: The Pimas of Sonora
Presented by Robert Perez, Bancroft Library Study Award Recipient

April 20thEnvoys of Empire: California Engineers and the Common World Destiny
Presented by Jessica Teisch, Bancroft Library Study Award Recipient

May 18thStalking the Hunter: Thoughts on the Origin of America's Hunting Tradition
Presented by Daniel Herman, Central Washington State University at Ellensburg

FALL 1999

September 16thCrime and Reward: The Untimely Death of William Chapman Ralston, the Triumph of Senator Sharon, and the Birth of the Bureau of Reclamation
Presented by Gray Brechin, PhD, California Historian

October 21stCalifornia Dreaming: A View from the Southwest
Presented by Theresa Salazar, Curator of The Bancroft Collection

FALL 1998

September 15thMechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley: The First 125 Years
Presented by Werner Goldsmith, Professor of Mechanical Engineering

October 15thNever so Wonderful a Book Written by Man
Presented by Victor Fischer, Mark Twain Project

November 19thEarthquakes and Earth Science as Measured on the Seismograph of Environmental History
Presented by Philip L. Fradkin, Rhetoric Department

December 17thReadings from The Bancroft Library
Presented by Bancroft Staff

SPRING 1998

February 19thMedieval French Manuscripts in Bancroft
Presented by Joseph Duggan, Professor of French and Associate Dean of the Graduate Division

March 19thDocumenting the Disabled Person's Independent Living and Civil Rights Movement
Presented by Susan O'Hara and Mary Lou Breslin, participants in the formative years of the movement

April 16thSemana Santa in the Sierra del Nayarit: Historical Roots of a 'Syncretic' Tradition
Presented by Richard Warner, Bancroft Fellow

May 21stThe Artist's Genius and The Author's Facile Pen: Word and Image in John Muir's "Picturesque California"
Presented by Elizabeth Leavy, Bancroft Fellow

FALL 1997

September 18thNew Light on Old Leaves: Unveiling the Tebtunis Papyri for the 21st Century
Presented by Arthur Verhoogt, Faculty member at the University of Leiden

October 16thInstitution and Artifact: Inquisition Documents in the Bancroft Library
Presented by Gillian Boal and Walter Brem, Senior Conservator and Curator for Latin American materials (respectively)

November 20thHuck Finn Redux: A New Edition of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Presented by Robert Hirst, Principal Editor of the Mark Twain Project

December 18thEat, Drink and be Conversational —A Feast for Ideas at Year's End!
Presented by Bancroft Staff

SPRING 1997

February 27thInaugural Roundtable: The Future of California's Past
Presented by Charles Faulhaber, Director of The Bancroft Library

March 20thHetch Hetchy: The Untold Story
Presented by Gray Brechin, Bancroft Fellow